Identification filament with baler binding material

ABSTRACT

A bale identification assembly for use with an agricultural baler having a first supply roll mounted on the baler providing a binding material used by the knotter system to bind the formed bale, wherein the binding material on the first supply roll is free of identification tags. The bale identification assembly includes a second supply roll mounted on the baler providing an identifying filament. The knotter system joins the identifying filament from the second supply roll with the binding material from the first supply roll while tying a knot to bind the formed bale.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/911,335 entitled BALE IDENTIFICATION ASSEMBLY FOR BINDING ANIDENTIFICATION TAG TO A BALE OF AGRICULTURAL CROP MATERIAL filed Mar. 5,2018, which application claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/468,817 filed Mar. 8, 2017, which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention

The present disclosure is generally related to agricultural balers and,more particularly to a method and assembly for supplying baleidentification tags to bales of agricultural crop material.

Description of Related Art

For many years agricultural balers have been used to consolidate andpackage crop material so as to facilitate the storage and handling ofthe crop material for later use. Usually, a mower-conditioner cuts andconditions the crop material for windrow drying in the sun. When the cutcrop material is properly dried, a baler travels along the windrow topicks up the crop material and forms it into bales. Pickups of the balergather the cut and windrowed crop material from the ground then conveythe cut crop material into a bale-forming chamber within the baler. Adrive mechanism operates to activate the pickups, augers, and a rotor ofthe feed mechanism.

In conventional square balers include a bale forming chamber and areciprocating plunger that slides into and out of the chamber. As thechamber receives loose hay material, the plunger slides into the chamberduring a compaction stroke to compress the loose hay material into theform of a bale. A conventional round baler includes a bale formingchamber with a pair of opposing sidewalls with a series of belts,chains, and/or rolls that rotate and compress the crop material into acylindrical shaped bale.

When the bale has achieved a desired size and density, a wrapping systemmay wrap the bale to ensure that the bale maintains its shape anddensity. For example, a twine wrapping apparatus may be provided to wrapthe bale of crop material while still inside the bale forming chamber. Acutting or severing mechanism may be used to cut the twine once the balehas been wrapped. The wrapped bale may be ejected from the baler andonto the ground.

The ability to trace or track parameters of each bale may be useful toan end user. Baled products, such as hay or silage, may be fed tolivestock, and the quality of the feed may be important to the diet ofthe livestock. For example, a higher quality feed may be fed to certainlivestock, whereas feed with lesser quality may go to a different typeof livestock. It may be desirable to trace where food products comefrom, what the livestock ate while it was being raised, etc. It is alsodesirable to be able to label each bale with other important properties,such as moisture content and nutritional value. Other potentialparameters of interest include but are not limited to GPS Location whenbale is tied, where the bale leaves the baler, farm name, farmer id,field name, preservative type, amount of preservative applied, etc. As aresult, bale identification systems may be employed in the balingprocess for storing or otherwise retaining the parameters or quality ofthe crop so it can be provided to the end user. To identify a bale, itis known to attach a tag containing information such as the size,weight, and date of the bale. To identify a bale, it is known to attacha tag containing the information. However, improvements in the manneridentification tags used to identify are affixed to a bale is desired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly stated, one aspect of the invention is directed to a baleidentification assembly for use with an agricultural baler used to takeloose crop material from the ground into bales and compress a formedbale in a baling chamber with a reciprocating plunger. The baler has atleast one crop sensor and/or bale sensor configured to sense a parameterof the crop material or formed bale, and a knotter system that uses abinding material to bind the formed bale and tie a knot in the bindingmaterial. The bale identification assembly includes a first supply rollmounted on the baler providing a binding material used by the knottersystem to bind the formed bale. The bale identification assemblyincludes a second supply roll mounted on the baler providing anidentifying filament. The knotter system joins the identifying filamentfrom the second supply roll with the binding material from the firstsupply roll while tying a knot to bind the formed bale.

This summary is provided to introduce concepts in simplified form thatare further described below in the Description of Preferred Embodiments.This summary is not intended to identify key features or essentialfeatures of the disclosed or claimed subject matter and is not intendedto describe each disclosed embodiment or every implementation of thedisclosed or claimed subject matter. Specifically, features disclosedherein with respect to one embodiment may be equally applicable toanother. Further, this summary is not intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Many other noveladvantages, features, and relationships will become apparent as thisdescription proceeds. The figures and the description that follow moreparticularly exemplify illustrative embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above mentioned and other features of this invention will becomemore apparent and the invention itself will be better understood byreference to the following description of embodiments of the inventiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a semi-schematic diagram of an baler;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a first bale being bound with a bindingmaterial having a bale identification tag and a second bale bound withthe binding material;

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a bale identification assembly usedwith the baler of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a binding material containing a baleidentification tag; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a knotter systemused for binding a bale with binding material and an identifyingfilament.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the views of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way ofexample and not by way of limitation. This description will clearlyenable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, anddescribes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives anduses of the invention, including what we presently believe is the bestmode of carrying out the invention. Additionally, it is to be understoodthat the invention is not limited in its application to the details ofconstruction and the arrangements of components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention iscapable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried outin various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology andterminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should notbe regarded as limiting.

Referring now to FIG. 1, shown is a semi-schematic diagram of anagricultural baler system 10 in which certain embodiments of a baleidentification assembly 11 may be employed while baling loose cropmaterial 12 from the ground into bales 14. The baler system 10 includesa towing vehicle 16 and a baler 18. The towing vehicle 16 may include acab 20 wherein an operator is located; an engine 22 operable to move thetowing vehicle 16; and a power take-off (PTO) 24 operable to transfermechanical power from the engine 22 to the baler 18. The baler 18 ishitched to the towing vehicle 16 by a fore-and-aft tongue 28, and powerfor operating the various mechanisms of the baler 18 may be supplied bythe PTO 24 of the towing vehicle 16, though not limited as such. Onehaving ordinary skill in the art should appreciate in the context of thepresent disclosure that the example baler 18 is merely illustrative, andthat other types of baling devices that utilize bale identificationassemblies may be implemented.

The baler 18 has a fore-and-aft extending baling chamber denotedgenerally by the numeral 32 within which bales 14 of crop material 12are prepared. The baler 18 is depicted as an “in-line” type of balerwherein crop material 12 is picked up below and slightly ahead of balingchamber 32 and then loaded up into the bottom of chamber 32 in astraight line path of travel. A pickup assembly broadly denoted by thenumeral 30 is positioned under the tongue 28 on the longitudinal axis ofthe machine, somewhat forwardly of the baling chamber 32. A stufferchute assembly 33 is generally shown, and includes a charge formingstuffer chamber that in one embodiment is curvilinear in shape. In someembodiments, the stuffer chamber may comprise a straight ductconfiguration, among other geometries. For instance, the stuffer chuteassembly 33 extends generally rearward and upwardly from an inletopening just behind the pickup assembly 30 to an outlet opening at thebottom of the baling chamber 32. In the particular illustratedembodiment, the baler 18 is an “extrusion” type baler in which the baledischarge orifice at the rear of the baler is generally smaller thanupstream portions of the chamber such that the orifice restricts thefreedom of movement of a previous charge and provides back pressureagainst which a reciprocating plunger 34 within the baling chamber 32can act to compress charges of crop materials into the next bale. Thedimensions of the discharge orifice and the squeeze pressure on thebales at the orifice are controlled by a compression mechanism as wouldbe understood by one skilled in the art.

The plunger 34, as is known, reciprocates within the baling chamber 32in compression and retraction strokes across the opening at the bottomof the baling chamber 32. In the portion of the plunger stroke forwardof the opening, the plunger 34 uncovers the duct outlet opening, and inthe rear portion of the stroke, the plunger 34 completely covers andcloses off the outlet opening. The reciprocating plunger 34 pressesnewly introduced charges of crop material against a previously formedand tied bale 14 to thereby form a new bale. This action also causesboth bales to intermittently advance toward a rear discharge opening 14of the baler. The completed bales 14 are tied with binding material or asimilar twine. Once tied, the bales are discharged from the rear end ofthe bale-forming chamber 32 onto a discharge in the form of a chute,generally designated 36.

The baler 18 (or towing vehicle 16) includes a communication bus 40extending between the towing vehicle 16 and the baler 18. The baler hasone or more crop sensors 44; one or more bale sensors 46; and mayinclude one or more computing devices such as electronic control unit(ECU) 48. Various alternative locations for ECU 48 may be utilized,including locations on the towing vehicle 16. It will be understood thatone or more ECUs 48 may be employed and that ECU 48 may be mounted atvarious locations on the towing vehicle 16, baler 18, or elsewhere. ECU48 may be a hardware, software, or hardware and software computingdevice, and may be configured to execute various computational andcontrol functionality with respect to baler 18 (or towing vehicle 16).As such, ECU 48 may be in electronic or other communication with variouscomponents and devices of baler 18 (or towing vehicle 16). For example,the ECU 48 may be in electronic communication with various actuators,sensors, and other devices within (or outside of) baler 18. ECU 48 maycommunicate with various other components (including other controllers)in various known ways, including wirelessly.

As the baled crop 12 is formed in the baler 18, certain parameters orqualities of the crop 12 or bale 14 may be measured or determined by thecrop sensors 44 and/or bale sensors 46, e.g., moisture quality, balingtime, bale weight, bale length, etc. In the baling chamber 32, forexample, a moisture sensor can measure an electrical resistance orcapacitance of the bale for detecting its moisture content. Anothersensor can measure the length of the bale. Each characteristic orparameter that is measured may be done so by one or more sensors 44, 46.Each measurement may be communicated to the ECU 48 for recording. TheECU 48 may communicate the detected measurement to a data server orother database for storage. The measurements may be stored locally viathe data server or wirelessly communicated via a mobile device to aremote location over the cloud-based technology.

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 3, a knotter system 50 is configured to loopa binding material 52 around the finished bale 14. The term “bindingmaterial” as used herein is intended to mean not only twine made fromnatural or synthetic fibers, but may also include metallic wire or otherstrapping material. The knotter system 50 guides the binding material 52around the bale 14 and forms a closed loop in the binding materialencircling the bale 14, for example by forming a knot 55. The knottersystem 50 may be implemented as known in the art, and may for examplecomprise at least one source of binding material, e.g. at least onebinding material supply roll 56, and a knotter mechanism 58, for exampleimplemented as a reciprocating inserter arm or bill hook, for bringinganother piece, e.g. end, of the binding material towards the end held bythe hook mechanism, for securing the binding material to itself so as tomake a loop and a cutter 60 for cutting the binding material. In oneembodiment known as a single a single knotter, a single supply roll 56may be provided at the top side of the knotter system 50. In alternativeembodiments, for example in case of a double knotter as illustrated inFIG. 2, an upper supply roll 56A and lower supply roll 56B may beprovided at the top and at the bottom side of the knotter system 50. Forillustration purposes only, two bales 14, one already packed and onebeing packed, are illustrated in FIG. 2 with a spacing there between. Inreality, both bales 14 will push one against the other, so the spacingwill not be present. The binding material 52 is pulled between bothbales 34. As knotter systems 50 are well known in the art, furtherdescription of the knotter system need not be included herein.

According to the invention, the bale identification assembly 11 isprovided to use electromagnetic fields for assigning attributes of thebale 14 to a bale identification tag 62 applied to the bale 14.Desirably, the bale identification tag 62 is a passive radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) tag used to electronically store information andcollect energy from a nearby RFID reader's interrogating radio waves. AsRFID tags are known to those skilled in the art, a detailed descriptionof the RFID tag need not be provided herein. In embodiments of thepresent invention, the binding material is provided with baleidentification tags 62. Bale identification tags 62 are placed in thebinding material 52 at certain intervals.

As seen in FIG. 3, the bale identification assembly 11 includes a readmodule 66 and one or more antennas 64 such as an Active Reader PassiveTag (ARPT) system, which transmits interrogator signals and alsoreceives authentication replies from identification tags 62. The antenna64 can be mounted either prior to or after the knotter mechanism 58. Inone embodiment the bale tying cycle may be initiated by a bale lengthsensor arrangement such as a rotary encoder 68 or similar deviceattached a star wheel 70 extending horizontally across and beingrotatably mounted to the top of the baling chamber 32, an angular sensor72 on a slacker arm 74 used to control slack in the binding material 52supplied to the knotter mechanism 58, and an electronic motor oractuator 76 to engage the knotter mechanism 58. The angular sensor 72senses the position of the slacker arm 74 to determine the position ofthe binding material 52 in relation to the knotter mechanism 58. Thestar wheel 70 wheel may have a toothed periphery which extends into thebaling chamber 32 and is contacted by a forming bale 14 so as to berotated as the bale grows in length. The rotation of the star wheel 70is sensed and converted into a signal representing bale length, with acontrol signal being sent to initiate the tying cycle when the formingbale reaches a length corresponding to a desired bale length. As thebale identification assembly 11 detects a given identification tag 62,it can then use a combination of the star wheel 70 and position sensor72 on the slacker arm 74 to predict the passage of identification tags62 through the knotter mechanism 58 to alter the length of the bale 14via an early or late motor trip or to cause an additional flake to beadded or the bale 14 to be finished with fewer flakes to prevent theknotter 58 from cycling on the identification tag 62 preventing knotterdamage and/or damage to the bale identification tag 62.

In one embodiment, the bale identification tags 62 are incorporated intothe binding material 52 in the upper supply roll 56A intended for thetop of the bale 14 for easy identification and reduced usage. The topbinding material 52 with the bale identification tags 62 will then becombined with the lower binding material 52 from the lower supply roll56B that lacks the bale identification tags 62 on the machine by theknotter assembly 50.

Desirably, the star wheel 70 is mounted at a known distance from theknotter mechanism 58. The bale identification assembly 11 has a knottercycle sensor 82, and at least one of the antennas 64 is mounted at aknown distance from the star wheel 70. The bale identification assembly11 has the reader module 66, and a main task controller 86, which may bepart of the ECU 48.

In one embodiment, the knotter cycle sensor 82 will define theboundaries of a given bale 14. Then using the known offsets and the starwheel position sensor 80, the start and end points of that bale 14 canbe adjusted as they pass by the antenna 64. Thus any identification tags62 viewed between the start and end point are then assigned to that bale14 as their identification in the task controller 86. Any attributessuch as feed values, drop point, moisture, etc. can then be assigned forthat bale 14 in the task controller 86 or similar software.

In one embodiment, the bale identification assembly 11 has a bale dropsensor 88, an RFID antenna 64 mounted on or rearward of the bale chamber32, the reader module 66, and the task controller 86. As a bale 14passes over the discharge chute 36, a bale activation device such as apaddle 89 is moved, tripping the bale drop sensor 88. This is turn wouldactivate the antenna 64 until the sensor 88 returns to its originalstate or until a given time has been reached. During its active cycle,the antenna 64 and reader 66 will assign any identification tag 62values the reader can sense to the bale 14 that is actively leaving thechamber 32. Any other desired attributes could then be post assigned tothe bale 14 in the task controller 86. In the event that a tag 62 wassensed over multiple bale events, the identification tag number wouldonly be assigned to the latest bale drop.

In one embodiment, instead of trying to store the bale attribute data tothe bale identification tag 62 itself, the identification tag 62 isassigned to a given bale 14. Other attributes of that bale 14 such asweight, variety, location, moisture, feed value, mass flow, flake count,time of day, etc. can be assigned to the identification element throughthe software of the task controller 86 post bale drop. This data canthen be displayed in multiple ways. Either through a GIS map for futuredecision making, or as a text file type display. Either would beavailable to either export or display on other task controller equippedmachines such as bale handling and loading equipment to record ordisplay all attributes of bales being fed or sold. When each bale 14 isformed, the controller 86 may assign an identification number to thebale 14. This identification number is unique to all other bales formed.In addition, the identification number assigned to each bale 14 may bedifferent from the identification associated with the one or more baletags coupled to the bale via the twine. Thus, as the bale is formed andthe controller 86 associated an identification number to the bale, theread module 76 reads the one or more identification tag 62 andcommunicates the tag identification number to the controller 86.Moreover, the sensors 44, 46 may communicate measurements and other datadetected to the controller 86. The controller 86 can therefore associatethe measurements with the bale identification number and bale tagidentification number. Alternatively or in addition, the controller 86may communicate the measurements from the sensors 44, 46, the baleidentification number, and the bale tag identification number (whencommunicated via the reader module 66) to the data server or database. Adata matrix or spreadsheet to store the data in an organized format sothat it may be retrieved at a later time. For example, a user of amobile device may access the data wirelessly via Wi-Fi, cloud-basedtechnology or any other known communication means by accessing a serveror database where the information is stored. In this manner, the dataassociated with any bale 14 may be tracked from a remote location at anygiven time.

In one embodiment, the bale identification tags 62 incorporated into thetying medium 52 are spaced at a given and specific interval for varyingapplications on the continuous piece of binding material. Not only doesthis allow a operator to match the desired element spacing to a givenbale length, i.e. a 6 ft. spacing could match 6 ft. bales and could beeasily switched to 4 ft. or 8 ft., it also allows for predictivesoftware to determine where the bale identification tags 62 are inrelationship to machine components of the knotter system 50 withoutactively sensing the tag 62 throughout the entire process. This in turnallows for disruption of certain machine elements in order to preservethe bale identification tag 62 as well as a failsafe to ensure that eachbale 14 leaves the baler 18 with a bale identification tag 62 attached.In one example, the top twine 52 on an 8 foot bale measuresapproximately 7 feet, and the spacing of the identification tags 62 areat 6.9 feet so as to create slightly more than 1.0 identification tags62 per bale 14.

In one embodiment, if multiple bale identification tags 62 are attachedto a single bale 14, the same bale ID would be assigned to all baleidentification tags 62 that were read for that bale 14 in either a cloudor task controller 86 environment. This could also be done on the baler18 using the antenna offset and knotter cycle events. In an alternateembodiment, any multiple bale identification tags 62 sensed for a givenbale 14 would be neutralized. For example, the antenna 64 would sensethe presence of the first bale identification tag 62 associated with agiven bale 14 and associate a bale ID to that tag. Any additional baleidentification tags 62 that would normally be associated with that baleID would be neutralized so as to only create a single active baleidentification tag 62 per bale 14.

Turning now to FIG. 4, in one embodiment, the placement of theidentification tag 62 onto the binding material 52 occurs during twineproduction. The binding material 52 comprises multiple filaments orstrands of non-identifying filaments 52A and at least one non-similaridentifying filament 52B incorporating the identification tag 62 intothe individual identifying filament. In one common prior art process,the material that makes up the binding material 52 is extruded as asingle sheet before being cut into individual filaments and then woundinto a finished twine product. In one embodiment, during the extrusionprocess, the identifying filament 52B has an RFID inlay 90 insertedbefore the filament is wound. The RHO inlay 90 desirably comprisesconducting wires of an antenna connected to a RAIN RFID chip. The lengthof the RFID inlay 90 is desirably between about 10 and 24 cm. Thus, theRFID inlay 90 is a segment of the identifying filament 52B with the RHOinlays 90 spaced along the identifying filament 52B at a desiredinterval. The identifying strand 52B incorporating the RFID inlay 90 isincorporated into the last stages of the twine production process to bewound with other individual twine filaments 52A that do not contain anRFID inlay into a single twine strand 52 with both the twine filament52B and the non-identifying filaments 52A.

In an alternate embodiment, the identifying filament 52B is formed as acontinuous identification element such as by using chipless RFIDtechnology. For example, the identifying filament 52B uses chipless RFIDtechnology that encodes data such as by measuring either the timing ofreflected radio waves between a reader antenna and tag antenna or byvarying the frequency and measuring the frequency of the reflectedsignal. One skilled in the art will understand that continuousidentification element technology depends on using multiple materialssuch as dielectric ink or other resonant materials such as copper oraluminum resonating at varying frequencies. By incorporating theresonant materials into the twine production process during the initialmixing or extrusion process or by printing the material onto thepolypropylene sheet extrusion, a unique bale identification tag 62 iscreated.

Turning now to FIG. 5, in one embodiment, the agricultural baler system10 has a knotter system 150 that wraps a finished bale 14 with a bindingmaterial 152 while also routing a separate identifying filament 153 withthe binding material 152 during the binding process. The identifyingfilament 153 may incorporate discrete identification tags 162 spacedalong the identifying filament 153 or may be a continuous identificationelement as described above. The knotter system 150 guides the bindingmaterial 152 around the bale 14 and forms a closed loop in the bindingmaterial 152 encircling the bale 14, for example by forming one or moreknots 155. The knotter system 150 may be implemented as known in theart, and may for example comprise a knotter mechanism 158 and a cutter160 for cutting the binding material 152.

The identifying filament 153 is introduced into the knotter system 150from an identifying filament supply roll 156C and is routed with thebinding material 152, which does not contain identification elements, asthe binding material 152 is looped around the finished bale 14. Forexample, in the case of a double knotter system as described above, theidentifying filament 153 is routed from the identifying filament supplyroll 156C with binding material 152 from an upper supply roll 156A thatsupplies the non-identifying binding material 152 around an upper partof the bale 14 while a lower supply roll 156B supplies binding material152 at the bottom side of the knotter system 150. The identifyingelement 153 need only be routed with the binding material 152 from theone supply roll 156A. Alternately, the identifying filament 153 may beloaded onto a supply roll 156A with the binding material 152 such thatthe binding material 152 and identifying filament 153 are dispensed fromthe same supply roll.

After the binding material 152 is drawn around the finished bale 14 bythe knotter system 150, the identifying filament 153 is joined with thebinding material 152 as a knotter mechanism 158 cycles to tie the knot155. The identifying filament 153 may use the same twine tensioner (notshown) used by the binding material 152 in order to match tension, orthe identifying filament 153 may use a separate tensioner depending onthe mounting location of the filament supply roll 156C. This embodimentavoids challenges involved with incorporating identification tags intobinding material production while still providing a robust baleidentifying filament 153 with to the binding material 152.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations,merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of thedisclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to theabove-described embodiment(s) of the disclosure without departingsubstantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All suchmodifications and variations are intended to be included herein withinthe scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

At least the following is claimed:
 1. A bale identification assembly foruse with an agricultural baler used to take loose crop material from theground into bales and compress a formed bale in a baling chamber with areciprocating plunger, the baler having at least one crop sensor and/orbale sensor configured to sense a parameter of the crop material orformed bale, and a knotter system that uses a binding material to bindthe formed bale and tie a knot in the binding material, the baleidentification assembly comprising: a first supply roll mounted on thebaler providing a binding material used by the knotter system to bindthe formed bale wherein the binding material on the first supply roll isfree of identification tags; a second supply roll mounted on the balerproviding an identifying filament, the identifying filament comprisingidentification tags, wherein the knotter system routes the identifyingfilament from the second supply roll together with the binding materialfrom the first supply roll around at least a first portion of a formedbale and ties a knot in the binding material and identifying filament tobind the formed bale; and a third supply roll mounted on the balerproviding a binding material used by the knotter system to bind theformed bale, wherein the binding material on the third supply roll isfree of identification tags, wherein the knotter system routes thebinding material from the third supply roll around at least a secondportion of the formed bale separately from the binding material from thefirst supply roll and the identifying filament from the second supplyroll, the second portion of the formed bale being different than thefirst portion of the formed bale around which the binding material fromthe first supply roll and identifying filament are routed, and theknotter system ties a knot with the identifying filament and the bindingmaterial from the first supply roll and the binding material from thethird supply roll to bind the formed bale.
 2. The bale identificationassembly of claim 1 further comprising: a read module with an antennaconfigured to transmit interrogator signals and also receiveauthentication replies from the identifying filament; a bale drop sensorcomprising a bale activation device, wherein as a completed bale passesthrough a discharge chute, the completed bale interacts with the baleactivation device causing the bale drop sensor to activate, whereinactivation of the bale drop sensor activates the antenna for a specifiedactive cycle, and wherein during its active cycle, the read moduleassigns any identifying filament that is sensed to the completed balethat is leaving the discharge chute; and a controller configured toreceive information from the at least one crop sensor and/or bale sensorand associate the information about the completed bale with theidentifying filament on the completed bale that is leaving the dischargechute.
 3. The bale identification assembly of claim 1 wherein theidentifying filament incorporates discrete identification tags spacedalong the identifying filament.
 4. The bale identification assembly ofclaim 1 wherein the identifying filament comprises a continuousidentification element.
 5. A method of identifying properties of anagricultural baler comprising: gathering a loose crop material from theground and compressing the crop material into a formed bale in a balingchamber baler; sensing at least one parameter of the crop material orthe formed bale with at least one sensor; binding the formed bale with abinding material from a first supply roll by routing the bindingmaterial around the bale with a knotter system; routing an identifyingfilament from a second supply roll together with the binding materialfrom the first supply roll during the step of binding the formed bale;reading an identification tag associated with the identifying filamentand assigning the identification tag with the completed bale;associating the at least one parameter with the identification tag onthe completed bale; wherein the binding material is supplied from atleast one binding material supply roll and the identifying filament isrouted from an identifying filament supply roll and binding material andthe identifying material are routed together and joined by the knottersystem; routing a binding material from a third supply roll around atleast a second portion of the formed bale separately from the bindingmaterial from the first supply roll and the identifying filament fromthe second supply roll, the second portion of the formed bale beingdifferent than a first portion of the formed bale around which thebinding material from the first supply roll and the identifying filamentare routed; and tying a knot in the binding material from the firstsupply roll, the identifying filament from the second supply roll, andthe binding material from the third supply roll to bind the formed bale.